I had the privilege of attending the Passion for Painting event held in Kamloops last Friday.   Three Canadian Federation of Artists (FCA) artists are invited to jury the annual show for the North Thompson Shuswap (NTSC) Chapter and then as an extra, the Chapter arranges for them to present, paint, and try to teach us all a little about how their world works. The rightfully call the event Passion for Painting!  I’ve attended a few  of these events now, and the casual atmosphere with a potluck lunch, and warm welcome that Cathie Peters, the host of the show provides, is just the right environment for a place of learning and inspiration.  Each of the three artists have very different styles and techniques and it was really good to hear again and remind ourselves that there was no right or wrong way to paint, just your way.

First up was Lisa Figueroa who has her studio in Salmon Arm and paints within a group of three, calling themselves “Lazuline” each showing their own style within their signature triptychs.  Lisa spoke eloquently, not just about her painting methods, but also about how her art came to be, based on her life and background and memories of experiences she tries to capture in her paintings.  The way she speaks during her painting, enables you to understand its not a just a painting she’s doing, but a memory and feeling that she’s reliving and portraying.  Her strong drawing skills are evident throughout her artwork and her “fantasy like” imagery in recreating the experience makes her work unique.  We captured a Work in Progress piece that she was working on in the event.

Work in Progress – Lisa Figueroa

Work in Progress Lisa Figueroa Working with a section of the painting.

Janice Robertson, completed a beautiful painting in record time starting off with barely an outline of a still life bouquet of flowers in a vase.  Janice uses big brushes with a painterly style and gradually refines the painting to add detail with smaller brush strokes and highlights using glazing.  She uses her gut to tell her when something needs adjusting and her gut serves her well!

Janice Robertson – the beginning is a sketched out outline of the flower bouquet.

Janice Robertson – using broad brush strokes

Janice Robertson – checking her reference for next steps

Janice Robertson – finalizing the background

Gaye Adams, was up next and demonstrated how painting people within scenes doesn’t have to be as intimidating as it seems.  People are just a combination of shapes…really look to see the shapes and not what we think we see.  Her painting was just a beginning, but we could already see that it was going to be an amazing painting with all the beautiful backlighting and great representational figures.

Painting with Passion demo

You can see more about these amazing artists on their websites.  See links below.  The North Thompson Shuswap Chapter is hosting their annual show on September 22 to October 1st at the Old Courthouse Cultural Centre in Kamloops (7 Seymour St. W)  It’s open daily from 10 – 4.  If you are in Kamloops, go check it out!

Lisa Figueroa – http://lazuline.ca

Janice Robertson – http://janicerobertson.ca

Gaye Adams – http://www.gayeadams.com